21 Jan 2021
Bamboo Response
5yHi there! Thank you for sharing feedback and for working at Bamboo. I'll try and address some of your review as best I can!
1. The reason we don't negotiate salaries is because we want to make sure we have compensation methodology that is as equity and fair as possible. Negotiated salaries often introduce more gender or other pay disparities systematically (because white people and especially men tend to negotiate while underrepresented groups tend to not) and we want to avoid that. Here is a good overview on this POV if it's of interest: https://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2018/04/11/a-powerful-way-to-close-the-pay-gap-dont-negotiate-salaries/?sh=7048f4e72209).
If it felt manipulative when I shared our policy with you, I probably should've done a better job explaining the "why" and I'll be sure we do that better going forward. Thank you again for sharing the feedback.
2. On salaries, I'm not sure when you left Bamboo but we actually increased pay across the board for 2021 going forward so I agree with you on this! We could've paid better (we used to pay at 50th percentile) and now we do.
3. I 100% agree that we more diversity across our teams. I started Bamboo as a 23 year old with two ex-coworkers, who were both white and from Michigan/Ohio. We should've prioritized diversity way earlier on, but we did a bad job at it in our first few years. This is a big focus for us going forward and making Bamboo as an inclusive a place as possible has been a big focus for us since 2020 (which is not soon enough!). We are also investing in more macro racial justice efforts as well (you can read more about that here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6755176153276846080)
4. I don't have enough details about your unique situation ("team player" doesn't clarify much, which is totally fine as I know you'd like to stay anonymous!), but we really try and train our coaches and leadership to empower their teams with autonomy and goal ownership at Bamboo. If you were or felt micromanaged in some way, I apologize for that. I encourage anyone who interviews with us to ask about what's it like working here day-to-day as they interview with folks across the team. I am certain this response would be very far from norm.
Thanks again for leaving feedback and for helping us build Bamboo. I really appreciate it!!